Enterprises Adopting AI-Powered Revenue Performance Software, ISG

New research from leading global technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) says enterprises will increase the use of AI in their revenue performance management (RPM) platforms over the next two years to expedite time-to-value and deploy more effective revenue performance plans.

The ISG Buyers Guides for Revenue Performance Management, produced by ISG Software Research, say initiatives that apply AI, including generative AI and machine learning (ML), to historic data can create new insights for both management and revenue-focused professionals.

Stephen Hurrell, director of Research, Office of Revenue, ISG Software Research.

ISG Software Research defines revenue performance management as the activities, processes and systems that enable organizations to plan, execute, monitor and make adjustments in real time to achieve customer, product and revenue targets across all revenue channels. The ISG Buyers Guides on RPM evaluate software products for their ability to support analytics and forecasting and manage incentives, opportunities, quotas, renewals, territories and variable compensation plans.

“AI has been applied across sales and revenue management to support individual deal-scoring and overall pipeline health. We are now seeing new developments from providers using AI to help design and optimize incentive, territory and quota plans to accommodate complex omnichannel buyer engagement,” said Stephen Hurrell, director of Research, Office of Revenue, ISG Software Research. “We assert that software providers will be adding AI tools over the next two years to speed time-to-value and help enterprises deploy performance plans.”

The traditional use of spreadsheets to manage revenue operations and performance is ineffective and can be problematic when trying to achieve optimal outcomes. A dedicated approach can provide a better method to achieve an organization’s goals, the research states. Even revenue-related applications such as sales force automation and customer relationship management that are designed to capture data about accounts, contacts and opportunities cannot deliver optimal visibility into overall revenue performance in the way a dedicated system can.

As organizations embrace additional sales channels, such as indirect sales from partners or new digital selling channels like e-commerce, revenue management will require alignment and coordination beyond sales teams to marketing, partner management, commerce, customer service and finance. The evolution to RPM enables users to maximize outcomes across all buying or revenue channels.

“The next generation of revenue and sales leaders has an opportunity to optimize their processes through dedicated business applications that help manage and achieve expected revenues and performance,” said Mark Smith, partner, ISG Software Research. “This portfolio of ISG Buyers Guides is essential to assessing and selecting software providers that are best able to support operations and manage territories and incentives across all sales and revenue channels.”

To learn more, visit: www.isg.com